EFRC:CST Research Thrust Leader Peter Rossky Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Dr.Peter Rossky, the Marvin K. Collie-Welch Regents Chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Rossky is one of 71 members chosen this year in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original scientific research.

The NAS is the country’s most prestigious scientific organization, and election to membership in the academy is one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer in the United States.

Rossky will be inducted into the academy April 2012 during the organization’s 149th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. His election brings the number of current faculty at The University of Texas at Austin elected to the NAS to 16.

“Election to the National Academy is a great achievement, and I’d like to congratulate Dr. Rossky for receiving this honor,” said William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin. “He joins a stellar list of world-class faculty who are members of the national academies.”

Rossky’s research seeks to discover the fundamental molecular-level origins of chemical behavior in condensed phases, such as water’s influence on biological assembly, the mechanism of energy migration in polymers, and the factors controlling reaction rates in solution.

Rossky received his Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard University in 1978. He is a member of the university’s Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, Institute for Theoretical Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and the Texas Materials Institute.

He is a recipient of the American Chemical Society Physical Division Award in Theoretical Chemistry for his outstanding contributions to physical chemistry.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furthering of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Established in 1863, the NAS has served to “investigate, examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science or art” when called upon to do so by any department of the government.